At a Glance
A tiny, fiercely selective screened high school where Hispanic students lead a diverse student body in one of Manhattan's wealthiest zip codes.
Best suited for
Families seeking a small, screened college-prep high school with real humanities depth and strong ELL support, who can handle a competitive admissions process and don't depend on a robust parent fundraising community for enrichment.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of 4-year graduation, English Regents college-ready and Regents completion · DOE 2025 report
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Admission selectivity is extreme — 40 applicants per seat, putting it among the most selective public high schools in New York City.
- A genuine humanities focus alongside AP coursework, with Latin and Spanish among world languages offered.
- Zero suspensions across the entire school, an unusually clean discipline record.
- Program richness score of 90/100, with strong extracurriculars ranging from chess and National Honor Society to a band, dance, and recycling club.
- A student body that is 57% Hispanic — uncommon among Manhattan's screened high schools, which tend to skew more white and Asian.
Things to consider
- PTA fundraising totals just $56 per student — roughly one-tenth of the District 2 average — so families should expect limited school-funded enrichment compared to wealthier PTOs at peer schools.
- Teacher-principal trust is only 64%, a notable gap compared with 94% parent-principal trust; the staff experience may differ from the parent experience.
- Only 19 teachers responded to the survey, a small sample that limits how confidently we can read the climate numbers.
- Average class size of 25.8 is right at the district average, so don't expect the tiny seminar feel the school's enrollment figure might imply.
- The neighborhood around the school is overwhelmingly child-free (only 9.2% of households have kids), so after-school socializing will likely happen at school or via transit, not on the block.
Based on 2023-24 data
School SummaryDistrict 2
Manhattan Village Academy occupies a unique spot in District 2 — the listed peer schools are all highly rated elementary schools (Lab, Manhattan New School, Success Academy branches), so it's hard to benchmark against like-sized screened high schools, but its selectivity and college-prep orientation put it firmly in the district's academically ambitious tier.
Academics
Proficiency and attendance numbers aren't available in this dataset, so academic outcomes can't be directly compared to the District 2 average of roughly 73% ELA and 73% math proficiency. What stands out instead is the school's academic architecture: AP courses, a humanities track, and dedicated ELL support suggest a college-prep orientation designed to serve a wide range of incoming preparation levels. The screened admissions process (2.5% offer rate) means students arrive with a demonstrated ability to handle rigorous coursework.
Culture
Zero suspensions across the entire school is remarkable — a clean discipline record in a screened school of 421 students suggests both strong culture and a self-selecting student body. Parents report high satisfaction (90%) and strong trust in teachers (95%) and the principal (94%), so families clearly feel heard. The one gap to flag: only 64% of teachers report trusting school leadership, well below the strong parent trust numbers, which can sometimes signal a school where families and staff experience things differently.
Community
Manhattan Village Academy's student body is 57% Hispanic, 15% Asian, 14% Black, and 10% White — considerably more Hispanic-dominant and less white than the surrounding Flatiron-Union Square neighborhood, which skews wealthier and more college-educated. The economic need index of 61.7 confirms that a meaningful share of students come from lower-income households despite the affluent setting. About 1 in 5 students has an IEP, and ELL support is offered, so the school serves a range of learners within its screened admissions framework.
Neighborhood
The school sits in the Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square area, where apartments are expensive (median home value around $1.66 million) and homeownership is low (31%), so most families in the immediate blocks are relatively affluent dual-income or single professional households. Just 9.2% of neighborhood households have children, which is typical of Manhattan below Midtown — the school draws its families from well beyond the surrounding blocks. Three subway lines converge within a few blocks, making the commute easy from almost anywhere in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
The F and M at 23rd Street is about a 2-minute walk, the R and W at 23rd Street is about a 3-minute walk, and the 1 at 23rd Street is about a 5-minute walk — one of the most transit-accessible locations for any screened high school in the city.
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 102 families responded (26% rate)
Programs & Activities
Admissions Demand
Rigorous core curriculum based on the equivalent of five years of Math, four-five years of Science, five-six years of English, and five-six years of History. The curriculum consists of two strands: Regents-based and Portfolio/Performance-Based Assessments. All students are expected to choose and enroll in our extensive menu of 17 AP courses.
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
High school (9th grade)
High school is one citywide application, made in 8th grade. Manhattan Village Academy admits through one program, and each one has its own admissions method:
- Manhattan Village AcademyScreened
High school application
- Opened
- Tue, Oct 6
- Closes
- Fri, Dec 4
- Offers
- Wed, Mar 3
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Apply on MySchools during the high school application, in 8th grade.
- 2Screened programs rank the 7th-grade core-course average, so last year's final grades are the ones that count.
- 3Rank programs in true preference order — the match places your child in the highest-ranked one that offers a seat.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Manhattan Village Academy a good school?
- On Motley, Manhattan Village Academy earns an overall rating of 80/100 — the average of the school's four-year graduation rate, the share of its students scoring college-ready (70+) on the English Regents, and its Regents completion rate, shown out of 100.
- What grades does Manhattan Village Academy serve?
- Manhattan Village Academy serves grades 9 to 12.
- How do students get into Manhattan Village Academy?
- Manhattan Village Academy is a screened school — it admits by application, ranking applicants on their course grades (4th grade for middle school, the 7th-grade core-course average for high school); a few schools add an assessment, writing sample, or interview.
- Is Manhattan Village Academy public, charter, or private?
- Manhattan Village Academy is a public school in NYC Community School District 2.
- What neighborhood is Manhattan Village Academy in?
- Manhattan Village Academy is in Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square, Manhattan.